Lieutenant Shane Nelson has been in law enforcement in Oregon for more than 16 years. As the Administrative Lieutenant of the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, Shane oversees the office's Large Animal Rescue and 23 acre Livestock Rescue & Shelter.

Joshua Crain has been an Assistant District Attorney General in McMinnville, Tennessee, since July 2005. Joshua has aggressively prosecuted several animal abuse cases, three of which have made their way into Circuit Court.

Robin Gordon served as North Dakota's State Attorney in McHenry County from 1999 to 2010. During that time Robin worked on many animal cases -- most notably a hoarding case in which 18 dogs were removed from deplorable conditions in a trailer in Deering, North Dakota.

The co-sponsor of National Justice for Animals Week 2011, Jon Cooper was elected legislator for the 18th district in Suffolk County, New York in November 1999. In October 2010, Jon sponsored a landmark bill, passed unanimously by Suffolk County lawmakers, to create the nation's first animal abuser registry.

As a State Prosecutor with the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General in Los Angeles, Tannaz Kouhpainezhad, also a professor of animal law, has a perfect record of obtaining affirmances on animal cruelty appeals.

Susan Abrams Dannelly has served as the Assistant State Attorney of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of the State of Florida since 1978. Susan is known as a tough prosecutor of murder and rape cases, but she has also worked hard to gain convictions in heinous animal cruelty cases.

Deschutes County Sheriff Larry Blanton has been in law enforcement in Oregon for more than 30 years. Sheriff Blanton was instrumental in creating the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office 23-acre Livestock Rescue & Shelter, a facility dedicated to caring for large animals seized in criminal cruelty cases.

Gregory Vincent was elected as Edmonson County Attorney in 1998 and continues to hold the position. Determined to win justice for the birds abused in one of the largest cockfighting operations in the Southeast, Gregory is currently aggressively prosecuting the case.

Jamie Contreras is currently Assistant Attorney General in the appellate division with the Oregon Department of Justice in Salem, Oregon. She is working on a potentially precedent-setting cruelty case appeal, in which she is arguing that the court should recognize that abused animals are indeed individual "victims."

Deputy Lindsey Evans works with the Umatilla County Sheriff's office in Pendleton, Oregon. Recently, Deputy Evans prepared a painstaking police report in a nightmarish animal neglect case. Without her diligence at the horrific crime scene, there is a good chance prosecutors could not have moved forward with criminal charges.